Concord teacher-marathoner safe

An Alcott School kindergarten teacher, Gayle Chatlosh, is safe after a harrowing end to her run in today’s Boston Marathon.

Kathie Ragsdale

An Alcott School kindergarten teacher, Gayle Chatlosh, is safe after a harrowing end to her run in today’s Boston Marathon.

Chatlosh said she never reached the finish line, where two explosions ripped into the crowd about 2:50 p.m., killing at least two and injuring at least 22, according to the most recent reports.

She said her husband Brian and a friend were going to meet her at the finish line but the friend received a text from an acquaintance on Newbury Street telling them a bomb had exploded and they should avoid the area.

Chatlosh said her husband, her sister and two friends had cheered her on at mile 20, knew roughly how fast she was running and were able to find her at mile 24.

“They said, ‘you can’t finish the race. There’s been an explosion. Get in the car and let’s go home,'" she recalled.

Until that point, “I knew nothing,” Chatlosh said. “As I was running, there were police officers who were gathering and talking to each other. A couple of runners asked what was going on but they wouldn’t say anything.”

This was the eighth Boston Marathon for Chatlosh, who is on the Massachusetts General Hospital marathon team. She said she runs in honor of her son, Chris, who successfully battled a bone marrow disease, and bone marrow transplant patient Shannon Curley, the daughter of a teacher with whom she works.

She said her kindergartners made a sign for her to celebrate her participation in the marathon. “I’m looking at it right now,” she said Monday afternoon.

Chatlosh said the parent of one of her students was going to email other parents to let them know she was safe.